One Night Only
by SweetDeamon
Summary: "Grant my last request and just let me hold you, don't shrug your shoulders, lay down beside me. Sure I can accept that we're going nowhere, but one last time let's go there, lay down beside me..." RLNT. Not really a song fic. Rated for Sirius' language!


_Note: Inspired by the amazing song **Last Request by Paulo Nutini**._

_*Melts into a puddle of fluffy goo*. _

_Grant my last request,  
And just let me hold you.  
Don't shrug your shoulders,  
Lay down beside me.  
Sure I can accept that we're going nowhere,  
But one last time let's go there,  
Lay down beside me_

_This is rated for Sirius' colourful use of language! Consider yourselves warned!_

_Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I own the words or anything at all to do with the song mentioned above._

One Night Only

It was a dull, wet and dreary morning when Nymphadora Tonks escaped the rain outside and sauntered through the Atrium of the Ministry of Magic, her clumpy boots squeaking upon the highly polished floor as she went. It was, as entrances went, a highly unusual one. Most days when she arrived at work, Tonks would find herself wondering just how many more times she would step out of one of the countless fireplaces and head towards the lift that would take her down to Auror Headquarters, how much longer she would have people fooled, when would the day come when she would find herself sacked and Merlin knew what else for her involvement with the increasingly unpopular Dumbledore and his Order of the Phoenix.

But on this particular morning, Tonks was much too cheerful for any such thoughts.

In fact she was feeling an unnatural urge to burst into euphoric song.

The young Auror managed to suppress this elated urge just enough that when she skidded to a halt before the lift a few minutes later she was instead humming and tapping her fingers in time to her tune upon the folder that she was holding.

"You look alarmingly cheerful for a Monday morning, Tonks." a voice from beside her observed, and she turned to smile up at the tall figure of Philip Lambert, one of the pen pushers from the Magical Law Enforcement offices who had asked her out for coffee on more occasions than she cared to remember.

"I know I do." the pink haired witch agreed as there came the soft ding of the lift and the door in front of them slid open. They both shuffled sideways to let the lift's occupants make their exits.

"Any particular reason why?" Lambert asked as they finally stepped into the lift, Tonks jabbing at the buttons upon the wall.

"Yep." the Auror said somewhat evasively, and he was forced to ask:

"Care to share?"

Tonks reached into the pocket of her robes to draw out a small wad of bubblegum encased in silvery foil. Lambert watched her tear the gum free of the foil before shoving it unceremoniously into her mouth.

"Well..." she said at last, screwing up the foil into a tiny ball and popping it back into her pocket, chewing somewhat vigorously. "Have you ever met somebody who's like...like the most infuriatingly stubborn person in existence? Somebody who doesn't listen to you, even if you talk to them until you're blue in the face? Somebody you'd just love to prove wrong?"

Lambert eyed the woman stood before him for a long moment, before reaching to run a tired hand through his messy blonde hair.

"You know, I do believe I _have_ met somebody like that, yes." He attempted to fix her with a meaningful look, but she was too busy staring aimlessly at the buttons upon the wall to notice.

"Yeah, well I know somebody just like that too." she went on, oblivious to his visible grimace. "And do you know what I did last night?"

"What did you do last night, Tonks?"

The young Auror finally graced him with her full attention, pausing in her chewing to grin somewhat alarmingly at him.

"I proved him wrong!" she announced proudly, throwing her arms out as if this were a very grand and impressive life achievement.

"Cool..." Lambert mumbled, smiling rather uncertainly back at her. "Um...well done..."

"It IS cool, isn't it?" Tonks exclaimed happily as the lift came to an abrupt halt and a voice announced that they had arrived at Auror Headquarters. "It's the best thing that's happened to me in bloody ages! I'm telling you, Phil, I could...I could DANCE!"

"Please don't..." Lambert mumbled, shifting his feet uncomfortably. "Don't forget last year's Christmas party..."

For the briefest of moments Tonks' face contorted in embarrassment at the memory, but as the doors slid open behind her she gave a careless shrug.

"Sod last year's Christmas party!" she exclaimed as she spun around and stepped out into the corridor. "I'm going to run in there, stick the wireless on, jump up onto Kingsley's desk and dance the Hippogriff!"

"I certainly hope not, Miss Tonks." a high, whiny voice announced from the Auror's left, and the pink haired witch came to an abrupt halt, her mood instantly soured.

Tonks turned to regard Dolores Umbridge with the politest look she could muster.

"I wouldn't dream of it, Madam Undersecretary." she said, glancing the short, stocky woman up and down and silently considering that, given the hideousness of the Undersecretary's knitted garments, pink just might cease to be her favorite colour. From the way that the older woman was eying her hair, Tonks supposed she might be having similar thoughts.

"I was just about to come and see you." Umbridge announced sweetly, as if she planned they sit down for a cup of tea.

_Oh bloody hell_, Tonks thought, forcing herself to try and look mildly interested, just as the lift doors clicked shut again behind her. _Why are you even here? Sod off back to Hogwarts and pick on some children of your own intellect..._

"All the way from Hogwarts just to see me, Madam Undersecretary?"

"Oh no, Miss Tonks. You're not that important."

As Umbridge turned and began to lead the way up the corridor towards the Aurors' office, high heels clicking irritably as she went, Tonks allowed herself to smile.

_I'm glad you think so. _

As she set off after the toad faced witch, Tonks wondered whether or not the appearance of one of her least favorite people ever to blight the world with their presence was reason enough to ruin her good mood.

She decided not. She didn't like to think Umbridge deserved to have that much of an effect upon her.

And besides, who cared why Umbridge was there, or what it was that she was up to? Who gave a damn?

Certainly not Tonks, that was for sure. Her mind just then was very much focused on one thing and one thing only: Victory!

Yes, she had been waging a battle of wills against Remus Lupin for the past few months, and the previous evening she had finally declared herself the undisputed victor.

Despite having been consumed by her thoughts of the evening's events, Tonks had still yet to decide which had been the sweetest thing about her triumph: the fact that she'd finally gotten Remus to admit that he loved her, or the fact that soon afterwards she had slipped her arms around his neck and the two of them had shared a proper kiss. A proper one. Not like the vague peck on the cheek last Valentine's Day that he had only consented to after a full day's worth of pestering and goading from Sirius.

Once she was stood, leaning back against her desk and staring at Umbridge along with the rest of the Aurors with what she hoped but seriously doubted was a serious and engaged expression upon her face, as the Undersecretary babbled on unhappily about their lack of success in locating Sirius, Tonks wondered if the moronic old toad had ever snogged anyone, or indeed anything, in her whole entire life. A series of somewhat disturbing and undoubtedly gross images plagued the young Auror's mind for the next ten minutes until she had watched Umbridge finish her increasingly agitated and furious speech, before stomping back out of the office and towards the lift.

_Maybe that's your problem_, Tonks thought as the woman disappeared from view and the entire roomful of Aurors let out a collective grumble of disinterest. _Maybe you just didn't get to snog anybody decent when you were young. I'd be pretty pissed off with the world if I were you. Explains the obsession with kittens, too. Especially with a face like that..._

As she dumped her bag down next to her desk and sat down upon her swivel chair, eying the mound of files that had been left for her, Tonks found herself smiling again.

_I'll suggest that theory to Sirius when I see him later_, she thought to herself as she reached to pluck a quill out from the pot to her right. _Might see what Remus thinks of it too..._

It was a testimony to the greatness of her victory that Tonks remained cheery throughout her day's shift, even when she began to suspect that somebody, probably the snog-deprived kitten obsessive on her way out of the office that morning, had bewitched the large clock above the door to move at the speed of a troll's mind. It was so late by the time she stumbled over the threshold of Order Headquarters, for once managing to avoid the dreaded umbrella stand, that it seemed entirely likely that both Sirius and Remus would have gone to bed. The sensible thing to have done, Tonks supposed, would have been to just go straight home to her flat, fallen into bed and slept for at least ten years.

Nevertheless she wandered down the stairs to the basement kitchen in search of life. The dingy room was deserted, it even looked as though somebody had attempted to tidy it up from the mass of unwashed plates and glasses that had adorned every free surface the night beforehand, when the Order had piled into the room to hear what Mad-Eye had to say about...something or other. Tonks couldn't really remember, but whatever it had been it was likely to have involved the importance of being Constantly Vigilant and she had probably heard it last week, and the week before, and maybe even the week before that. The only thing left on the table was an empty bottle of Odgen's Finest Fire Whiskey. The sight of it made Tonks smile as she recalled Sirius' antics the evening beforehand, having drunk near on the whole bottle himself.

That was another reason why victory had been so sweet. She was pretty certain that when he had finally caved in, Remus had been pretty much sober, given Sirius' eagerness to hold on to any and all forms of alcohol that had made an appearance at the table that night. Tonks had managed to sneak the Fire Whiskey out of his grasp just long enough to pour herself and Remus one glass each, but he had been quick to summon it back across the table, narrowly avoiding knocking himself out with the waywardly soaring object in the process.

Leaving the kitchen, Tonks decided to search the sitting room upon the first floor next, and when she reached the landing she paused outside of the door at the sound of soft voices from within.

Well, one of them seemed soft at the very least.

"Oh BLOODY HELL!" Sirius' voice exclaimed, the words oddly blurred together in such a way that Tonks strongly suspected that he had been drinking at least as much as he had been the night before. "Don't be such a pathetic TOSSER!"

"Says the man who's just spilt whiskey down his front and is about two inches from falling straight out of his chair and onto the..."

"That might make me pathetic, Moony, but it doesn't make me a complete and utter tosser like you are."

"I think you should go to bed, Padfoot."

"You think I should go to bed? Well guess what, do you want to hear what I think?"

"I know what you think. You think I'm a pathetic tosser."

"Apart from that, do you want to know what I think?"

"No, but I strongly suspect that you'll tell me anyway..."

"I think you're about to make the biggest mistake of your whole entire life! And that's saying something, Moony, because let's face it, your life so far has consisted of screw up after screw up."

"In which case I'm only accomplishing the inevitable."

"I'm trying to be SIRIUS!"

"Are you? It's rather difficult for me to tell when you combine the phrase "I'm trying to be serious" with utterly unoriginal and overused wordplay."

Tonks heard the distinct scrambling sound of a very drunk person attempting to get to their feet.

"Pathetic tosser." Sirius insisted darkly. "Well, I hope Tonks curses you to the bloody moon and back! Neither of you deserve your pathetically crap version of love, Remus. Either be in love and be together or don't be in love and don't be together, not any of this...this being apart because you love her crap. She won't buy it and neither should you."

Tonks froze.

Quite suddenly she could feel her heart pounding in panic in her chest and she struggled to draw in a deep, gasping breath because it seemed that her throat was slowly closing up.

No. No, no, no...she hadn't just heard...she hadn't...she couldn't...she just couldn't...

Hearing Sirius' staggering footsteps she hastily turned on her heel and fled up the next flight of stairs, throwing open the first door she came to and diving inside. Once the door was firmly shut behind her, leaving her in complete darkness, the Auror allowed herself to sink to the floor, mind racing so much that she did not even think to draw her wand and cast lumos.

The darkness was consuming. It ate away at her nerves, at her cheer until she reached to hug her knees to her chest, burying her face in her arms. Judging from the coldness of the floor and wall beside her, she vaguely suspected that she was in one of Grimmauld Place's gloomy bathrooms. The cool temperature made her shiver.

Time seemed to drift away into nothing as she desperately clawed around the emptiness of her mind to think of what she was supposed to do...she needed a plan...some course of action...

Because Remus wasn't being fair. She had won, after all, she had been victorious, she knew she had, she had felt it, such wonderful and glorious elation...

He had no right to take that away. It was cruel. Cruel to them both. As drunk as he had been, Sirius was right...

One side of her face felt unnaturally cold, bordering on numb. Tonks shifted a little, blinking in an attempt to squint through the darkness, and then she wondered at what point had she managed to sink further to the floor and curl herself up into a ball.

It was making her back hurt. She couldn't feel one arm...

At the taste of salt upon her lips, she reached with her free arm to swipe her sleeve across her eyes.

Merlin...what if she couldn't change his mind? What if...what if this was it? One proper kiss. One true I love you. One evening spent huddled together upon the sofa, arms so entangled that she'd wondered if they'd ever be apart for even a second.

Tonks was pretty sure that she would give anything, everything for just one more night like that. Even if it were just for one night only.

Surely Remus would allow her that? Just one night. And maybe, just maybe, it might change his mind. Either way, she'd have one more night of all that she wanted.

And that would be more than she'd ever expected to begin with, more than some people had in their whole entire lives.

Tonks could live with that, couldn't she? If she had to...

And so it was that the young Auror got carefully to her feet, stretching her limbs that ached in protest, and reached to carefully pull open the bathroom door. As she slipped out onto the landing and down the stairs, she wondered why she felt a sudden need to creep, or indeed why she could manage it at all.

She did not hesitate at the sitting room door, she dared not risk a moment to lose her nerve, nor her carefully composed features that she had been arranging ever since she had stepped out of the bathroom. She reached to push the door open wide and shuffled inside.

Remus was sat upon the sofa, one elbow upon the arm as he stared down at the chess piece in his hand with a small frown of contemplation. At the sound of her entrance he glanced up and, upon seeing her, reached to replace the piece upon the chess board that had been set upon the coffee table before him.

"Hello." he said softly, offering her a small smile, and as she shuffled towards him, Tonks found herself thrown a little by the greeting.

"Hi..." she managed, reaching to tug a little awkwardly at one sleeve of her scarlet Auror robes, and when he opened his mouth to say something else she felt sudden panic and held up a hand to stop him. "I know what you're going to say." she informed him, straightening up in an attempt to bolster her confidence. "So...so don't bother saying it."

"Right..." Remus said, one eyebrow creeping up towards his hairline as he sat straighter in his chair, staring up at her with distinct bemusement.

There was a long silence.

Tonks eyed her boots for a long moment, fingers toying awkwardly with the hem of her t shirt. At last she dared a glance up at him and found the werewolf was still staring at her.

"Well..." he said, giving his shoulders a vague shrug. "Are you going to tell me how work was, then?"

Tonks' eyes widened a little as she stared at him, colour rising upon her cheeks.

"That...that was what you were going to say? How was work?"

"Of course it was." Remus said, more bemused than ever. "It's what I said to you yesterday, and the day before, and then both days you were here last week..."

"Oh." Despite herself, Tonks smiled. "Well, work was okay."

"Okay?"

"Mmm..." Tonks frowned in consideration as he reached to pat the empty space upon the sofa beside him. "Umbridge showed up." she said, consenting to flopping down upon the seat, and almost as soon as she had sat down it occurred to her just how tired she felt. She vaguely wondered what time it was, only to become distracted by the comfortable weight of Remus' arm around her shoulders. Before she could quite fathom how, the witch found herself nestling her head upon his shoulder.

"What did she want?" he asked, and Tonks closed her eyes, delighting in just how close he was.

Oh Merlin, she thought despairingly. This is cruel...

It was then that she remembered that he had asked her a question.

"Um..." she attempted to cast her mind back to that morning, only it all seemed a little fuzzy and painful now, she'd been so happy...

"Something about dancing." she decided, and she felt him give a shudder of laughter.

"Dancing? Umbridge?"

"Mmm."

"How...unusual."

"Mmm."

Remus laughed again, before reaching to stretch his legs out in front of him with a yawn.

"Bizarre." he concluded, only for Tonks to recall:

"She was pissed off about Sirius, too."

"Ah. Not so bizarre."

They sat in what she suspected he felt was comfortable silence and what she felt was torturous apprehension for some while, until she felt him twist towards her slightly, reaching to pull his arm from around her. The loss of contact made her flinch in anticipation. She too straightened up and turned to regard the deadly serious and, from what she could gather from his pursed lips, nervous expression upon his face.

Here it comes, she thought dully, here's the moment when winning the battle ceases to matter, because I'm about to lose the war...

He drew breath to speak and she hastily held up a hand to silence him once again.

"I know what you're going to say." she informed him, fighting to keep her voice even, though he seemed vaguely amused by their repetition and oblivious to her panic.

"You do?"

"Yes."

He swallowed, hands shifting uncomfortably in his lap.

"I...I rather doubt it." he said, only to look rather startled when tears began to escape her eyes, slowly seeping down her heart shaped face.

"I don't." Tonks said, ignoring the trickle of tears entirely. "I know exactly what you're going to say. You're going to tell me that we can't be together because you love me and you think the most loving thing to do is to dump me because...because...well...well because you're a pathetic tosser."

There was a long, distinctly shocked silence as Remus stared at her with wide eyes, mouth hanging open ever so slightly as he digested the information that had been flung at him.

"Oh..." he said. There was another sizable pause before he wondered: "Have you been chatting to Sirius, then?"

Tonks was pretty sure had she not been concentrating so hard on not bursting into tears, she might have hit him.

"Maybe." she squeaked.

"Right..." Remus reached to scratch the back of his neck uneasily before drawing in a deep breath and explaining:

"Well...well Sirius is wrong...sort of. What I mean is I don't think us being together is...is wise. But I don't think it because I'm a pathetic tosser...although I probably am one, I won't deny that...it's just...well..." he trailed off at the stoic expression that she presented him with. He drew another deep breath and tried again. "Listen, Tonks. I love you, I really do, but...but well we can't be together because...because it's obvious, isn't it?"

"Is it?" Tonks asked, pink hair seeming to fade a little at the question, forcing him to insist:

"Yes, it is! I'm...I'm not right for you. At all. I'm much too old for you, I've barely a galleon to my name and..."

"Don't waste your breath, I know what you're going to say." Tonks interrupted, holding up a hand yet again. "You know," she said, pausing to swallow the lump that was forming in her throat. "I had a wonderful day today, at work. I don't think I've ever felt so happy. D'you know why?" she did not wait long enough to allow him to reply. "Because I thought I'd won. I thought I'd made you see sense. You told me you loved me last night..."

"I do, but..."

"And we had such a wonderful evening, I didn't want it to ever end, and the only good part about having Sirius burst in on us this morning when we were asleep on this sofa was the fact that I thought we'd have other nights like that too, that I'd be able to do it all over again. But now...now you've just...changed your mind again." She paused to swipe her sleeve somewhat furiously at her eyes, but he remained silent. "I was so convinced I'd...I'd persuaded you...I thought...I thought I'd understood you. But I was wrong, wasn't I? I...I don't understand, not at all. And I'm not sure I ever can."

Remus sighed heavily, reaching to pass a weary hand across his eyes.

"Please don't ask me to change my mind." he murmured, and Tonks sniffed, shaking her head.

"I'm not sure I see much use in it." she whispered dejectedly. She glanced up at him again, eyes imploring. "Will you do something for me, though?" she asked, sitting a little straighter in her seat. "Just...just one thing? One thing and then...and then, well, then you can do whatever you want?"

When he glanced up at her questioningly, she felt her face flush pink, but she refused to allow herself to care.

"Will you give me one last night?" she asked him, reaching to take hold of him by the hands, just in case he decided to make a run for the door. "Like last night? Will you tell me you love me and kiss me like you mean it and fall asleep beside me like we did before? Just for tonight. For one night only."

She watched him frown ever so slightly in consideration, swallowing worriedly.

"Just for tonight." she repeated, gripping his hands and giving no care whatsoever to the thought that really, this was all a little desperate. "Just for an hour, you can...you can go once I'm asleep."

He sighed heavily, leaning back in his seat as he whispered:

"That would be...very wrong of me."

"Hardly. I'm asking you to do it."

"Well I know, but..."

"I'll never hold it against you. I promise."

There was a long silence as she watched him mull the proposal over in his mind, and from his increasingly agitated expression Tonks couldn't help but think that he strongly disapproved.

"It would be very wrong." he said again, and Tonks was sure what composure she had left would shatter at his conclusion, but quite suddenly he leant forwards towards her, pulling his hands free from her grasp.

Tonks wondered if her heart had stopped beating, if the relentless hammering had been all too much as panic clenched her chest so hard she thought she might stop breathing too...

But then she felt his hand tangling in her hair and his arm wrapping around her and drawing her forwards until there were precious few inches between them.

"But I do love you." she heard him whisper, the words seemingly jump starting her internal organs into life again. "I truly, truly love you."

And before she could think on the fact that she had won another little battle, she felt his lips press a little hesitantly against her own, and she immediately reached to slide her arms around his neck. His hold upon her tightened comfortably and from that moment on Tonks' only coherent thought was that she hoped she never slept, that as they somehow managed to melt into a tangled mass of limbs upon the sofa, she might lie there forever, crushed in a tight hold against his chest in an attempt to stop her toppling backwards and off onto the floor. But when she was finally forced to stifle a yawn into his shoulder, he shifted further back against the back of the sofa so that she could more easily lie beside him. She shifted until her back was pressed against him, struggling to keep her eyes open as she reveled in the warmth against her back.

"Go to sleep." he murmured into her ear, reaching to pull a cushion closer for her head to rest upon.

"Never."

"It must be far past midnight, you've had a long day and we've a meeting in the morning."

"I don't care." As she felt the soothing weight of his arm draped across her hip, Tonks attempted to stifle another yawn, silently cursing her weariness.

Don't fall asleep...don't fall asleep, don't do it. If you do, he'll be gone...

"Go to sleep, Tonks."

Don't listen to him...you can stay awake a little longer...

Just a little longer...

Just a little...

But in the end sleep was inevitable, and as she failed to fight away impending slumber, Tonks' final thought was that she had to remember this feeling, had to imprint it upon her mind, because any moment now, it would all be gone forever...

BANG!

Tonks was jerked awake in surprise at the loud sound, eyes snapping open so that she could peer groggily across the dim sitting room towards the door that had narrowly avoided being knocked off it's hinges.

"My bloody head...!" Sirius announced dramatically as he staggered across the threshold, still dressed in his rumpled clothes from the night before. "What in Merlin's name was I thinking?"

"Probably the same thing as you think most evenings." Tonks informed him, voice hoarse from sleep as she shifted to glare accusingly at the thin rays of sunshine that had fought their way through the grimy windows and moth eaten net curtains. "Now do me a favour, Sirius, and sod off."

She hadn't meant to be so rude, but quite frankly his hangover seemed petty and insignificant in comparison to her own situation. After all, it wasn't every morning you woke up so despairing that you wished you'd never done so at all.

Sirius shot her an insulted look as he came to a halt, folding his arms moodily across his chest.

"Are you going to let her talk to me like that, Moony?" the Azkaban escapee asked incredulously, eyes wide and expectant, and it was at that moment that Tonks realised that she was not leant back against the sofa at all, but a warm, soft mass that appeared to be breathing...

Drawing in a deep, hopeful breath, she glanced down to find an arm still draped around her middle, and she was just attempting to stifle the urge to let out a small squeak of happiness when a voice mumbled into her disheveled hair:

"Go away, Padfoot. We're trying to sleep."

Sirius' further outrage was entirely lost on Tonks as he clenched his jaw in irritation and declared:

"No I won't bloody go away! It's MY bloody sitting room! Besides, the meeting starts in half an hour, and I'd rather not have Mad-Eye or...or SNIVELLUS wandering up here to find you two doing unspeakable things on the sofa..."

"Firstly," Remus told him, reaching to stretch his arms above his head with a yawn, "we weren't doing unspeakable things at all, and secondly, if we WERE, you'd love for Alastor or somebody to catch us at it, you'd think it was the most hilarious thing ever and we'd never hear the end of it."

"Tell you what, Sirius." Tonks said as she shifted around until she had her back to him, grasping hold of the front of Remus' jumper in an attempt to stay upon her narrow perch. "Go stick the kettle on and get us a cuppa, and we promise to be off of here before the rest of the Order arrive."

Had she still been facing him, Tonks might have caught Sirius' genuine smile at the pair of them, but as it was she only heard him grumble:

"Fine, fine!" He shuffled back towards the door, pausing in the door way to chance another glance back at them. "But I'm telling you now," he said, causing Remus to look up at him with a distinctly warning look. "If I come back and catch the pair of you shagging, you can make your own tea for the rest of eternity. It's too bloody early and my stomach can't take it."

"Charming." Remus told him, as Tonks sniggered into his chest, and with that Sirius disappeared out onto the landing, practically slamming the door behind him.

"Merlin, how do you put up with him?" Tonks wanted to know as soon as her cousin's stomping footsteps began to fade upon the stairs, and Remus shook his head, frowning deeply.

"I have no idea."

For a long while, they simply lay, staring at one another, smiling faintly, until she shifted closer and observed:

"You're still here."

"Mmm..." he agreed, averting is gaze sheepishly, which only made her smile more.

"Why?"

He frowned in consideration for a long moment, puffing his cheeks in a distinctly resigned sort of manner as he mumbled:

"Well...I suppose I'm just...fulfilling your last request. Part of it..."

"Oh?"

"Mm."

"What part was that?"

Remus paused to reach and brush a few strands of wayward pink hair from her face, at last consenting to meeting her eye as he explained:

"The part where you said I could do anything I want." He leant to brush a kiss to her smiling lips, adding: "It's my favourite part."

She did not think to reply straight away, for they both became momentarily distracted from conversation by lip movement of another kind, before she finally drew away just a little and asked:

"So...what else do you want to do?"

It being a question, she supposed she ought give him a moment to reply, but she only got as far as thinking such a thing when she had leant to kiss him again.

"To...stay..." he managed to mumble, and she reached to rake her fingers through his already disarrayed hair.

"How long?"

"Ages."

She was forced to lean back again, for it was rather difficult to kiss and grin at the same time.

"Long enough for Sirius to catch us doing unspeakable things on his sofa?" she asked, eyebrow twitching in amusement, and he chuckled and reached to hug her to him.

"Oh yes." he murmured, pressing a kiss atop her head. "And long enough for Sirius to catch us doing unspeakable things on our own sofa, too. Because I couldn't stand it, and I never will, to have you just for one night only."

**Finish**


End file.
